Pies and Prejudice Read Online Free Page A

and I am
not
skinny-dipping with those two around.”
    Still, the image of the man emerging from the water made her skin tighten and burn as if she’d been out in the sun too long. To quell the desire she felt stirring in her blood, Ella Mae began to silently recite the ingredients in a pine nut tart crust.
    Safely back on the rock ledge, she untied the plastic bag she’d wound around the handlebars of her bike before setting out and began to fill it with plump, juicy blackberries.
    She was already envisioning the pie she’d make to mark this trip to the swimming hole. The crust would be of crushed graham crackers, to echo the sandy bank. Then, a layer of moist blackberries, to remind her of the dark waters. And on the top, a cloud of lemon chiffon to represent the summer day. She’d garnish the edges with small blackberries and mint leaves.
    Unbidden, her mind strayed to the day she’d first met Sloan Kitteridge. Ella Mae had ridden her bike to Havenwood’s roadside fruit stand to buy strawberries. Sloan was passing through town on his way to a company retreat at the lakeside resort when he spotted Ella Mae pedaling along. He was so caught up in the vision of this lovely girl with the long, tanned limbs, full lips, and hair floating out behind her like a ribbon of caramel, that he drove his rental car into a ditch.
    Having stopped to see if the driver was injured, Ella Mae had taken one look at the handsome stranger and saw her ticket out of Havenwood. She’d gone away to college, ofcourse, but had returned home only to take an assortment of unfulfilling jobs. She’d dated a few local men but had never fallen in love. Feeling trapped by her mother’s silent but domineering presence, Ella Mae longed for escape, to have adventures like her archaeologist father—a man she’d never known. A man who’d died worlds away just a few days before her birth.
    Ella Mae’s turn for adventure had come when Sloan drove into that ditch. He exited the car and smiled at her as if the accident had been a gift. He’d taken her to lunch, then dinner, and stayed at the resort long after his retreat was over. When he returned to New York ten days later, Ella Mae went with him, leaving all she knew behind to follow the whims of her heart.
    “And here I am again,” she whispered to the trees. “Starting over.” She popped a blackberry into her mouth and chewed, savoring its tart succulence. “I can still have a good life. I can make my own happiness.”
    Looping the bag of blackberries onto her right wrist, Ella Mae decided to focus on the tarts she’d bake for the open house instead of thinking about Sloan or the beautiful man from the swimming hole.
    On the ride back to her mother’s house, which was called Partridge Hill and had been in the LeFaye family for two centuries, Ella Mae decided to take a shortcut in order to get the berries safely into the kitchen before they spoiled. This meant riding on the lane bordering the Gaynors’ property. Ella Mae would normally avoid this route, seeing as Loralyn Gaynor had been her enemy since the two girls were in kindergarten.
    Ella Mae had no idea whether Loralyn still lived in Havenwood, but she pedaled as fast as she could past Rolling View, the Gaynors’ sprawling estate. Her mother had once told Ella Mae that it had held another, less bucolic title in the past, but the Gaynor family had expunged that name when they’d begun raising thoroughbred racehorses.
    “She’s probably happily married with a perfect husband and a perfect house,” Ella Mae stated petulantly to Chewy. “Two darling cherubim for children and a job…No, she wouldn’t have a job, now would she? Loralyn was never fond of working. She cheated her way through school and hired someone to write her college application essays. She’ll have a housekeeper and a gardener and will spend her free time playing tennis and getting her hair done.”
    Ella Mae glanced nervously at the circular driveway leading up to